Jessica Sharzer made her feature debut with Speak, based on the acclaimed novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. Speak, starring Kristen Stewart, premiered at Sundance in 2004 and was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and a Directors Guild Award. Sharzer holds an M.A. in Russian Literature from UC Berkeley and an M.F.A. in Film from NYU. Her thesis film The Wormhole garnered the NYU First Prize, the New York Magazine Award and the Student Academy Award Gold Medal in narrative. After film school, Sharzer signed a three-picture deal with Universal. There, she developed two scripts including the Dusty Springfield story. She has also adapted Lizzie Simon’s memoir Detour for HBO. In television, Sharzer has directed The L Word for Showtime and shadowed on Friday Night Lights in the NBC/DGA Fellowship Program. She has written three dance movies for MTV Networks including Turn the Beat Around, which premiered on MTV in early 2010. Sharzer has developed various one-hour pilots including Music City and Bronx D.A. for CBS and New Canaan for Fox. She is currently a writer-producer on American Horror Story for FX Network.